Chapter 1: The City Above
The city floated above the clouds.
People called it a miracle.
A place where nothing could reach them.
No danger. No fear. Only safety.
That’s what they were told.
Aira stood near the edge of the platform, her hands resting on the cold metal rail. Below her was nothing but thick clouds, moving slowly like a sleeping ocean. No one liked to look down for too long. It made people uncomfortable. It reminded them of the world they had left behind.
The Dead Land.
Aira’s parents had gone there once.
They never came back.
She was twelve when it happened. Old enough to remember the sound of the alarm, the rushed voices, the way everyone avoided her eyes afterward. No one explained anything. They never did. In the floating cities, silence was normal.
“Don’t ask questions,” they said.
“Questions bring fear.”
Aira learned to stay quiet.
Now, at seventeen, she watched the sky turn darker as the artificial lights of the city flickered on. The city looked peaceful from a distance—clean towers, soft lights, calm faces. But she knew better. Peace built on secrets always cracked.
A loud bell echoed across the platform.
Curfew.
People around her began to move, walking back toward their homes. Aira stayed for a moment longer. The wind brushed past her face, cold and sharp. For a second, she thought she heard something—almost like a whisper carried by the air.
Her chest tightened.
She had heard that sound before.
“Echoes,” people called them. Creatures that lived below the clouds. Monsters, according to the officials. No one had ever shown proof. Just warnings. Just fear.
Aira turned away from the edge.
As she walked home, she noticed soldiers standing near the main gate. Their faces were tense, hands resting close to their weapons. Something was wrong. The city was never this alert without an announcement.
Inside her small room, Aira sat on her bed and opened the old metal box hidden under the floor. Inside was a worn notebook—her mother’s. Most of the pages were damaged, but one sentence was still clear.
The truth is not buried below.
It’s floating with us.
Aira closed the notebook, her heart racing.
Maybe the Dead Land was not the real danger.
Maybe the city was.
And for the first time in years, she allowed herself to think the forbidden thought:
"What will happen if I ask questions, what if I go down there, will I ever come back"
She thought
"What if safety was the lie?"
